How Drunen became Victorian London
Transcript
Why is a village in Brabant pretending to be Victorian London? Because in 2004 a group of local business owners sat down and asked what they could do together for Christmas.
Their answer was Charles Dickens. Every December since, the centre of Drunen turns into a scene from his books, with chimney sweeps, ladies in crinolines, street urchins, carol singers and, of course, a few gentlemen who would rather nobody celebrated at all.
It is run almost entirely by volunteers. Around a hundred costumed extras take part, and before each edition they are coached on how people in the Victorian era walked, talked and behaved. Before the pandemic, around forty thousand visitors came each year, and it is free to get in.
Look out for Ebenezer Scrooge, the miser from A Christmas Carol, who sneers at Christmas until three ghosts change his mind. In Drunen he has been played for many years by the same local man, Hans Walters, who also makes Dickens-inspired drawings and prints.
A tip: do not just walk through. Stop, talk to the characters, and ask them about their lives. They stay in role, and that is half the fun.
Source: www.omroepbrabant.nl
